Feyenoord’s 2014/15 Eredivisie campaign began at the Kyocera Stadion, with a gruelling battle with fierce opponents ADO Den Haag. The home side started with a 4-2-3-1 formation, utilising van Duinen as a lone striker. This helped them pack the midfield and control the tempo of the game in the first half, allowing fast paced counter attacks. As expected, Feyenoord started with a traditional attacking 4-3-3 formation, using Clasie, Vilhena and Immers in the three man midfield. Clasie and Vilhena covered well when Immers made his darting runs into the ADO penalty area.
The game had a fast paced start, with both teams clearly playing for all 3 points. In the first half, Feyenoord saw a lot more of the ball than the home team, but created few clear chances. Their best chance came when Lex Immers forced an acrobatic save out of ADO keeper Martin Hansen after a perfectly timed header. ADO played with width but attacked through the middle, which was tough for the Feyenoord three-man-midfield to deal with. Den Haag hit the bar twice and had a header from Michiel Kramer glance wide. Despite having the better scoring opportunities, Den Haag concluded the second half negatively. Mitchell Schet received a yellow card for a late challenge on Sven van Beek, and then was cruelly dismissed 5 minutes later as a result of a second yellow after a tussle with Terence Kongolo. Only a minute later, ADO could’ve gone down to nine men after a double-footed challenge by Meijers on Feyenoord debutant Bilal Basacikoglu.
Considering that ADO had to field 10 men for the duration of the second half, their incredible work ethic and positive play kept them in the game. Michiel Kramer received a yellow card for a reckless scissor-like challenge on Jordy Clasie, which many thought should’ve received a harsher punishment. Van Duinen had a few chances in the second half, but clearly didn’t have his shooting boots on this afternoon. It was evident that Den Haag started to tire as the second half went on; their finishing was poor and they gave away too many costless kicks on the edge of their box. Feyenoord dominated possession throughout, which contributed to draining the stamina of Den Haag’s squad. Both sides were incredibly aggressive, resulting in 12 yellow cards and one red card handed out in the game. Feyenoord left it late to secure the three points, as an unmarked Mitchell te Vrede scored a wonderfully timed header, putting the ball in the bottom left corner of the Den Haag goal. This goal (surprisingly) resulted from a Feyenoord costless kick which was delivered from the edge of the box. The ADO defence will be disappointed to concede in such a poor manner, after being co-ordinated and compact throughout the game.
Overall, Feyenoord probably deserved the three points after their long spells of possession and several chances in the last 20 minutes. It’s safe to say that the sending off of Mitchell Schet contributed massively to the outcome of the game. The game itself was very enjoyable, despite the lack of goals.
